title: [Gingival retraction paste versus gingival retraction cord for fixed prosthodontics: a systematic review].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the efficacy of gingival retraction paste versus gingival retraction cord in fixed prosthodontics on gingiva protection, tooth preparation, clarity of the impression and plaster model, and aptness of the prosthesis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Chinese BioMedical Literature Database, VIP, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Wangfang database were searched on November 15th 2012 for eligible studies. Hand-searching included references of the included studies and Chinese dental journals. Risk of bias of the included studies was assessed by 2 reviewers independently using Cochrane Collaboration's tool, and data extraction was done by the 2 reviewers. Meta analysis was performed with Revman 5.1 software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nine randomized controlled trials, involving 1153 participants, were included. All of them had moderate risk of bias. Meta analysis revealed that gingival retraction paste had better effect on gingival health [RR=1.05, 95%CI (1.00, 1.11), P=0.04], tooth preparation [RR=1.17, 95%CI (1.07, 1.28), P=0.0008] and clarity of the impression and plaster model [RR=1.08, 95%CI (1.03, 1.13), P=0.0009] than gingival retraction cord, and the aptness of the prosthesis was as good as the cord [RR=1.07, 95%CI (0.96, 1.19), P=0.21].
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The gingival retraction paste has better effect on gingival health, tooth preparation and clarity of the impression and plaster model, while the aptness of the prosthesis is as good as the cord and can be considered as a good candidate of the gingival retraction cord, but more randomized controlled trials are needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Stomatology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University. Xiamen 361003;Fujian Province, China.E-mail:174892334@qq.com.
authors.forename: Le-guan
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Li-ping
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Li-li
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Xue
mesh_terms: D005881:Gingiva; D006801:Humans; D009824:Ointments; D011476:Prosthodontics
chemical_list: D009824:Ointments